Manhattan lawyer ends prostitution prosecution

“Over the past decade, we have learned from people with a lived experience and from our own experience in the field: criminal prosecution of prostitution does not make us safer and too often achieves the opposite result by further marginalizing vulnerable New Yorkers, “Vance, a Democrat, said in a statement, calling the matter a remnant of another New York.

The move to dismiss the case comes after lawmakers in New York State earlier this year repealed a law criminalizing looting for prostitution purposes. “For too long, trans people have been unfairly targeted and out of proportion for innocent, lawful actions based solely on their appearance,” New York government Andrew Cuomo said after signing the bill in February.

The measure was largely implemented along party lines. Legislators who supported the repeal of the law, known as the “walk while trans” ban, said it led to discriminatory policing of transgender women. Some state republics at the time said the bill would hamper the enforcement of efforts and make prostitution more difficult.

After Cuomo signed the legislation, judges in other districts dismissed similar cases at the request of district attorneys. District attorneys in Queens, Brooklyn and the Bronx requested in March that judges dismiss hundreds of cases involving prostitution. Other district attorneys in New York City have not announced policies to prosecute prostitution.

Mr. Vance’s new policy comes at a time when prosecutors across the US are reconsidering their approach to prostitution cases. In prostitution cases in Brooklyn, prosecutors are offering services to defendants and rejecting the cases, usually before any court appearance, a spokesman for the district attorney’s office said. In March, district attorney Eric Gonzalez said those with public warrants – such as the old prostitution-related warrants that his office rejected – drive more underground and are less likely to report abuse or other crimes.

Abigail Swenstein, a lawyer with the Legal Aid Society’s Exploitation Intervention Project who works with sex workers, said the Manhattan district attorney’s office has dismissed most prostitution cases in recent years, but usually only until ‘ an accused appeared in court and was referred. services such as counseling. Under the new policy, people who have been arrested do not have to appear in court.

Swenstein said that while the policy does not prevent the New York Police Department from making arrests, she hopes officers would choose not to make arrests, knowing prosecutors would not file charges.

“It remains to be seen what the NYPD will do in the future,” she added. Police did not respond to a request for comment.

New York Congressman Mike Reilly, a Republican who opposed state law, said Manhattan’s new prostitution policy sets a dangerous precedent. “It flies in the face of law and order,” he said. Reilly said, who once worked as a police officer in a unit that enforces prostitution laws.

Mr Reilly said he knew of several unlicensed massage parlors in his Staten Island district. “If these people are not held accountable for these illegal activities, it will lead to serious crimes,” he said. “Now they will do it without any covering of darkness.”

Write to Corinne Ramey by [email protected]